Randomness

I haven't updated my blog in the last week, mainly because there's been almost too much going on and I haven't known where to start, but I thought I'd better get down to it now, otherwise it will be too difficult to pick it up again, and that would never do, would it?

Well firstly, we have made the move, and Craig and Mo are now living on the Vereeniging. Just beforehand, though, I managed to finish a couple of jobs I'd been meaning to do since last summer when I had to re-do the panelling after the new steel sides were put in. There were two window frames I hadn't made and I also had to repair the kitchen panel which can still be removed. Getting these things done felt good.

Mo and Craig have really changed the interior a lot, and although it's not me, it looks great. Very spacious and uncluttered (definitely not me!). Earlier in the month, I'd also got our Bruce to cut a small doorway through to the roef at the back behind the engine room, so now Craig has that as his den, and it's fantastic. I wish I'd had this done before as it's opened up the whole barge and made the roef part of the llving space. I'm already coveting it as my office. The vooronder isn't clear yet, but probably will be in the next week, and then we can start that conversion too.

I've moved my office and some of my other things onto the Luxor, but the rest has come south to the cottage. The living room here looks rather grand now that it's sporting two sofas. I managed to buy a nice old blanket chest to use as a coffee table instead of the slightly too large pine one I had - which is now redundant. I also had to buy yet another bookcase to house all my books and a whole heap of Koos's too. Luckily I managed to find one that matches the other two I'd bought before. This was was an even better bargain at €25, so I was really chuffed with that.

I do absolutely love Marktplaats. It's the Dutch version of e-bay, and I buy almost everything I need this way. Scouring the stuff for sale on the web is almost my favourite do-nothing pastime. An incorrigible bargain hunter I am! Anyway, the two pics below were ones I have just taken with my phone, so they are really current images of what the living room looks like now.





I also need to update my house blog, as there's been a lot of activity on that front recently, although the latest developments haven't been so good. I had the gutters replaced because the old lead ones were rotten, but now there's something wrong with the construction and I've got huge damp patches on the walls in the bathroom, kitchen and living room as a result. Needless to say, the builder has been summoned!

Anyway, back to the Luxor, I am hoping to do some 'modernisation' there too, and will be insulating the sides and building in some cupboards to make it more space efficient. Koos has plans to put into action too. Ho hum, lots to do. Anyway, that aside, I'm still teaching during the week and have been quite busy lately with individual coaching sessions. I'm also giving some business writing workshops, which are great fun, but come the end of July, I'll stop for a month and then hopefully go to France for a few days to see my sister in their holiday home down south. Really, really looking forward to it.

There are other things in the pipeline too, but I think this is enough for one post. I'll leave you with some photos I took last Monday from Fort Lievenshoek, an old 18th century fortified settlement on the south bank of the Schelde. Like its opposite number on the north side, Lillo, it's a charming historic oasis in amongst the industry of Antwerp's docklands. Have a good weekend everyone!